Mistletoe for Malala August 10 2015

It's August and we've had odd rainstorms in Southern California - which will clean the mistletoe for this season's KISSTLETOE® harvest! Mistletoe is a parasite. We prefer the variety that grows on Coastal Oak trees because the leaves are smaller and better for our pretty pendant! We love the transformation of taking a pest and turning it into a lovely!

I can't really think about Christmas this time of year. But I do dream about the good this pendant will do - if we can meet our goals. It's been wonderful watching the traction of Malala and The Malala Fund. Not long after we chose The Malala Fund as our beacon and purpose for the product, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. It felt like an omen - like we were on to something - like it was right and correct. Which, of course it is.

So as we start the process of the harvest and creation of these unique globes of mistletoe, we keep her purpose in mind. In fact, just last month in honor of her birthday, we changed our Facebook and Twitter icon to a cornflower - which was her code name ("Gul Makai" CORNFLOWER in Urdu) when she blogged for the BBC - telling the world about her fight to simply go to school and get an education. That simple blog caught the attention of the Taliban. These cowards met multiple times to plot her assassination. She was 14 years old and they were afraid of her power. But what they didn't anticipate was Malala's survival, passion and drive. Malala won. And she continues to win.

Her efforts to bring hope to thousands of girls, some refugees, some oppressed, and often both, are an inspiration to us. They give us a reason to bottle mistletoe!